on the fringe of

大きな進展となるのでしょうか。ここのon the fringe ofは、sidelineとほぼ同じ意味でしょうか。Starlightさん、どうぞ。（Inaho）

Abe to meet with Xi on fringe of APEC in Beijing

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that he expects to be able to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the fringe of a two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing from Monday.

The meeting would be the first bilateral summit since December 2011, when then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and the Chinese President Hu Jintao met in the Chinese capital.

Earlier on Friday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that the two countries have reached an accord to "gradually resume dialogue in political, diplomatic and security fields, and make an effort to build a political relationship of mutual trust."

http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/110162.php#sthash.ENkrf25l.dpuf